Do You Stay with Your Kids at Practice?

Today is the day I--hesitantly--sign my 5 1/2-year-old up for summer football. He and his dad are all excited about it; I am struggling with fear about him getting hurt (and also have to listen to my mom mumbling about what a bad idea this is). But I digress. This post is really about practice--and whether or not to stay.

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See, once football starts, practices are every evening Tuesday -Thursday and then 9am -1pm on Saturdays. That's a lot of time! As it is, he's in Tae Kwon Do on Fridays and Sundays;. the classes are an hour long and I sit through each one of them (sigh).

With Tae Kwon Do at first I stayed because, well, it was the right thing to do. I didn't want not to be there if my baby needed me mid-class to, say, quickly wipe his runny nose. Also, like every mom, I try to put the idea of "bad" teachers/coaches out of my mind, but we all know there are sickos out here who take advantage of children. (This was a major reason to stay at practice.) But now, many months in, my kid is a pro, he forgets I'm there during that hour, and sensei? He's a wonderful person that I trust with my child completely. Yet class after class, I'm still there, still not getting my nails done or anything else during that precious time.

I don't think I can do this for football though. His dad will be at Saturday practices but for the weekday ones, am I really supposed to sit there with my other child for two hours a night?

How do you sports moms do it? Do you stay at practice? What about when more than one child has an activity? How old is old enough to leave them? Talk to me!